All-Star pitcher honors late legend in special way

The Seattle Mariners completed their only trip of the season to Fenway Park on Wednesday. George Kirby, who started the game for the Mariners, paid tribute to a late Boston Red Sox legend during his start.

Tim Wakefield, who spent most of his MLB career pitching for the Boston Red Sox, passed away on Oct. 1, 2023, after a long fight with brain cancer. Wakefield was known as a knuckleball pitcher. Despite not being a knuckleballer, Kirby threw the unique pitch with his first offering of the game.

MLB shared the tribute on X (formerly Twitter) as well as a quote from Kirby who said of Wakefield, “He was a special player. So just being able to do it here in Boston was pretty cool.”

Daniel Kramer of MLB.com and Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times both confirmed on X after the game that the pitch was a tribute to Wakefield.

“George Kirby said that his first pitch today was indeed a knuckleball and indeed a tribute to Tim Wakefield,” Kramer shared . “He’s been thinking about it for 2-3 weeks, when he knew he’d start here today.”

“George Kirby said he threw the first pitch knuckleball as a tribute to Tim Wakefield,’ noted Divish . “He’d been thinking about it for a few weeks. He wished he’d executed it better.”

The Red Sox have been wearing a heart-shaped patch with Wakefield’s No. 49 on their jerseys all season.

[MLB on X , Daniel Kramer on X , Ryan Divish on X ]

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